Beyond The Impossible

Vesta has always liked the sun. When she was young… or rather, when she was younger (since she won’t reach old age for billions of years), she could spend months with her sister Demeter in the endless gardens of her grandmother Gaea, enjoying the warming glow coming from the sky.

Even when Helios taught her that the stars are terrifying atomic furnaces that transform millions of tons of gas into energy each second, the sun was never intimidating to her.

Now that she’s facing a furious Apollo, now that the brightness of his body is hurting her eyes, she realizes that he’s in a truly different class.

<You have changed, Vesta. You’re as beautiful as ever, but there’s a new fire inside you.>

<I’m glad you like it> she responds, generating a stream of plasma that hits Apollo at point blank. His clothes have long since been burned in the fight, but his skin doesn’t even tan at ten thousand degrees. She gathers her strength and increases the temperature by ten times. Then by fifty.

<Come on, this wouldn’t even hurt you. You’ve lived among mortals and lesser gods for too long, Vesta; have you forgotten what a true god looks like?>

<I remember you never shut up> she replies, increasing the temperature to a million degrees, then ten million, then twenty million. Apollo smiles, complacent in his absolute power, and he goes close enough to pull her closer to kiss her. She tries to push him away, but his strength dwarfs hers.

<Let me go!!!>

<Don’t be afraid. I’m not Ares, I promise I’ll be gentle> he says kissing her, despite Vesta’s attempts to push him away. His hands are all over her, and he stops only when he’s hit by multiple shots in the back. Much to his annoyance, there are three ships firing in his direction.

<Insolent voyeurs> he complains, gesturing towards them to go away: his hand releases a wave of solar energy of a million degrees, enough to vaporize anything.

Except the Neutral Matter armor plating of the Covenant fleet: two ships concentrate their fire against Apollo, and the third one only gets close enough to teleport Vesta away.

 

Bridge of the N08-Zahhak

Once Vesta appears on the ship, the bridge immediately catches fire. She’s too upset to reduce her temperature until she notices the Oni robot that came to her rescue.

<Vesta, your vital signs are off the charts. Do you require medical attention?>

<No, I’m… I’m fine. This sort of thing happens all the time with my family. Thanks for the save.>

<I am programmed to serve the Vanguard. I require your tactical evaluation.>

<Noriko has a plan, right? Let’s hope it works.>

<Actually, our strategy was suggested by Quantum while we were transporting him to Lampyria.>

<We’re doomed.> Vesta comments, slapping her forehead.

<Quantum suggested to ram Apollo with all three available ships, all at once, at the speed of light. Based on your experience, can this tactic succeed?>

<That’s ridiculous! Even if this could hurt him, there’s no way he’ll stay in the same place long enough to… did you say lightspeed?>

<Yes. If we engage the Star Drive and immediately disable it, we will be traveling at the speed of light for 0.00001 seconds.>

<I have an idea. Get your engines ready: we only get one shot at this.>

 

In the battlefield

The three ships from the Covenant fleet… the N07-Naraka, the N08-Zahhak and the N11-Duzakh, are all firing nonstop at Apollo. They’ve yet to hit him: he’s flying in an erratic pattern between the shots, too fast for their targeting systems. Not because he’s afraid to get hurt, but because he wants to take a better look at the ships that dare to attack a god.

<More toys from Hephaestus? I recognize his famed neutral matter, but these are not his ships. No mortal could build those wonders; is one of my brethren betraying Olympus?>

<Apollo!!!> he hears Vesta shout. Of course he can’t exactly hear her, being in space, but her voice is unmistakable. Her body is entirely surrounded by flames, appearing like the silhouette of a woman inside a raging fire.

<If it’s me you want, come and take me now!>

<Yes. The glory of Apollo knows no bounds> he congratulates himself, flying towards the goddess who awaits him with open arms. He embraces her, his hands going through the fire to touch the flesh beneath them… only to find more fire.

<Glorify this> Vesta says, showing Apollo the middle finger before her fire fades away. Apollo realizes two things at once: first, this wasn’t Vesta, but a fire construct made in her image.

Second, that all three ships have stopped firing and are instead powering up their engines.

Each ship normally weighs several thousands of tons. Once their neutral matter armor is destabilized, each one weighs more than a mountain. Three of them, colliding at the speed of light, are more than enough to destroy anything that isn’t made of neutral matter: there is almost no physical force that can affect it to a noticeable amount.

Apollo knows this: Hephaestus never missed an opportunity to boast that his creation could withstand the pressure and temperature of the core of a star. And Apollo knows that his half-brother meant an average star: over the centuries, he learned neutral matter’s melting point.

Fifty million degrees. Which is now the temperature of Apollo’s skin.

The three ships fuse into a single blob of molten neutral matter; anything else, all the technology and instrumentation and robots inside, is completely annihilated.

Vesta watches in horror as something shoots out of the chaotic mass, still glowing from the heat: a man covered in molten metal, which slowly solidifies into an armor.

<Fascinating. That actually hurt me> Apollo says, as a bow made of sunlight forms in his hands, complete with an arrow.

<Not as much as this will hurt you, I’m afraid> he then says, turning towards the star and firing the arrow at it. Vesta has seen him do this once: it’s how he blows up stars.

She doesn’t waste time talking, but flies directly towards the star as fast as she can, in pursuit of the arrow. She puts everything she has in her efforts to catch it; the arrow is almost within her grasp by the time it reaches the star’s corona, but even with the added gravitational pull of the star Vesta still can’t reach the speed of light.

When she stops, she can see in the distance the arrow plunge beneath the star’s surface.

“Noriko, I pray you have a plan for this” she thinks, flying away from the star at her top speed.

Behind her, a catastrophic chain reaction in the star’s core is already underway.

 

The Mindscape

Moving from one memory to another is always confusing, but Noriko Null feels especially weird this time: as soon as she steps out the door, she feels nauseated to the point of having difficulty standing up. Roxiana quickly gets closer to help her.

<Easy, easy! This is a memory from an alien mind, it takes a while to get used to it.>

<I’ve experienced Lar memories before.> Noriko answers, gesturing to Roxiana to stay away: she doesn’t know the previous host of the Nexus, and it’s not the moment to risk trusting a stranger.

<Human brains were designed to be similar to their Lar predecessors; this is different.>

<Different? Where are we, exactly?> Noriko asks, looking around for the first time… and it’s not a pretty sight. While it’s clearly an alien planet, where the architecture has little or nothing to do with anything Noriko has ever seen, she’s pretty sure it’s not supposed to be on fire.

<This was Nod, in the Naqada galaxy, roughly a billion years into your past. My laboratory.> the stoic man with golden skin who accompanied them explains.

Unharmed by the fire, since none of this is actually real, Noriko takes the time to explore. There are bodies laying around, men and women with golden skin… or rather, pieces of men and women: they’ve been chopped to pieces, with yellow blood splattered all over the place.

What she finds really interesting that all men are identical to each other, and the women as well. Same face, same body type, same hairstyle, same dresses.

<Are those clones? Duplicates?> she asks.

<They were the First Men.> the mysterious ally explains.

<Kind of sexist, isn’t it? Half of these are women… exactly half, actually> she realizes.

<Blame the Olympians, we’re using their translation. The original Lar term is gender neutral.> Roxiana explains.

<Go figure. What did your people call themselves?> Noriko asks.

<We don’t need names. We know who we are.> is the vague answer; Noriko doesn’t press the issue when a gold-skinned woman appears by walking through one of the remaining walls, like a ghost, to talk to the golden man.

<We are the last ones remaining. We shall return to the garden.> she says.

<No. They are looking for the Nexus; if they get it, they will never stop until they find us. If we allow them to get this insignificant victory, we can use this to return.> he explains, showing her something familiar: a black coin with the infinity symbol on one side.

<It’s not a Lar device. They took it from someone else, like the Nexus; it’s the Lar that are invading, isn’t it?> Noriko asks.

<No, the Lar won’t take control of the Nexus for millions of years. This is what Apocalypse didn’t want you to see.> Roxiana explains, just when something flies through the room at incredible speed: a pitchfork made of red energy and hits the golden man straight in the chest.

Even though this isn’t real, Noriko instinctively takes cover as a colossal Demon arrives, making the ground shake with every step: he’s so massive he even dwarfs the already large Oblivion, and the fact that he’s naked makes the situation even more uncomfortable. Trying her hardest to look away from him, Noriko sees the golden woman being surrounded by a white halo before disappearing into nothingness.

<So that’s how it works.> Noriko says, her silver eyes shining as she runs towards what remains of the laboratory. Everything is unrecognizable, except the holographic screen… which has truly indecipherable scribbles on it.

<Dammit! If only I could read this!> she complains, pounding her fist on the equipment while behind her the Demon is already dismembering the then-current Nexus host.

<Yes. If only.> Roxiana comments, calmly strolling towards her. The black woman with voluminous hair looks around innocently, waiting for the obvious question:

<You can read this stuff?>

<I am… I was an historian, Noriko. I’ve explored the deepest mysteries of the early universe, and you know what is the most important lesson I’ve learned? The past is a scary beast. If you’re not careful, it will destroy you.>

<My grandmother was a historian too; I carry her name. She died at the hands of my mother because of what she unleashed: I know about the risks. Now, can you read this or not!?>

<Just promise me you’ll remember they’re anything but human.> Roxiana answers enigmatically, then points at the screen: all of a sudden, the meaningless symbols become mathematical formulas.

Noriko studies them intensely, feeling like she’s back in school again: she knows she’s superhumanly smart, but this is the product of billions of years of research. It’s simple and elegant, the result of countless minds working together to smooth every little imperfection.

<I’ve got it.> she can finally say, as the world around her disappears.

 

Present day, Lampyria

<This is insane! We don’t have time to argue about this!> Kari Zel shouts.

<I’m not leaving my people behind!> Lily shouts back.

<Can we argue later!? Vesta says the sun just exploded and we don’t have any ships left! Let’s wake up Torn and let him create portals, at least we can save some people!> Quantum adds.

The argument stops when they hear a whistle. It’s coming from Noriko Null, who is getting up next to the Demon who is still out of commission after his trip into her mind.

<It’s okay, guys. I know how to use this.> Noriko says, holding the Iron Key of Heaven.